Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Supreme Court Decisions Involving Affirmative Action: A Timeline

The Supreme Court ruling Tuesday upholding Michigan's ban on affirmative action represents the latest in a line of decisions addressing policies that take race into account. Here is a timeline of the high court's affirmative-action rulings, beginning with Tuesday's.

Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action (2014): The high court, in a 6-2 decision, upheld a Michigan voter initiative that banned affirmative action in public education and in state employment and contracting. It didn't re-examine the constitutionality of affirmative action, but six justices agreed that states may end racial preferences without violating the U.S. Constitution.

Fisher v. University of Texas (2013): The Supreme Court sidestepped a sweeping ruling on affirmative action in a 7-1 decision, directing lower courts to re-examine whether a race-conscious admissions program at the University of Texas at Austin should survive constitutional scrutiny. The upshot: the court seemed to ask the lower courts to scrutinize more closely admissions formulas that include race.

Gratz v. Bollinger (2003):The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, struck down a system used by the University of Michigan's undergraduate program that assigned points for minority status because it made race a decisive factor in admissions, rather than just one of many.

Grutter v. Bollinger (2003): The high court approved a University of Michigan Law School system that gave minority applicants an edge in the admissions decision-making process. Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the 5-4 majority, said that the Constitution "does not prohibit the law school's narrowly tailored use of race in admissions decisions to further a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body."

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978): The high court, in a 5-4 ruling, struck down the use of racial quotas in the admission policy of the University of California at Davis's medical school. But the court ruled that the goal of achieving a diverse student body was sufficiently compelling to justify consideration of race in admissions decisions in some circumstances.